Wash. Serial Killer Pleads Guilty

Robert L. Yates Jr. pleaded guilty
today to 13 murders, taking a place among the nation’s most
prolific serial killers.

The Army veteran and helicopter pilot also pleaded guilty to one
count of attempted murder as part of a deal to escape the death
penalty.

Yates removed his glasses and wiped his eyes as he answered
“guilty, your honor” as each count was read against him. It was
his first public show of emotion since his arrest in April.

Yates made no statements during the 30-minute court appearance,
other than to answer questions. The small courtroom was packed with
family of victims.

The 48-year-old father of five is to be sentenced next Thursday
to 447 years in prison.

Death Penalty Possible in Other Cases
Yates was arrested in April and charged with the deaths of eight
women and the attempted murder of another in the Spokane area in
1996-98. He also was charged with the murders of two women in
Pierce County that occurred in the same period.

All of the victims were involved in a life of prostitution and
drugs, and had been shot.

Yates pleaded guilty to seven of the Spokane slayings he was
charged with, three Spokane-area slayings he was suspected of but not
charged with, the murder of a young man and woman in Walla Walla
County in 1975, and the murder of a woman in Skagit County in 1988.

Yates also pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Christine
Smith, 32, of Spokane, the only victim known to have escaped his
attacks.

Yates could still face the death penalty in the two Tacoma-area
slayings, and in an additional slaying in Spokane County that is
being held in abeyance in case Yates tries to renege on the
agreement or file an appeal.

A Family’s Anguish
Yates’ relatives this week said they knew him as a caring family
man who loved cars and the outdoors, and was proud of his service
in the Army and National Guard as a helicopter pilot.

But Sonja Yates, one of Yates’ four daughters, said there had
been signs of trouble.

“My mom had her suspicions that he was sneaking around once in
a while,” the 22-year-old said Wednesday, speaking publicly for
the first time since her father’s arrest. “He would stay out until
2 in the morning. She wondered what he was doing.”

Investigators say Yates frequently cruised Spokane’s red-light
district in a white 1977 Corvette and picked up prostitutes. Last
spring, investigators recovered a victim’s DNA in the car,
providing the evidence that triggered Yates’ arrest.

After the arrest, Yates’ family left their Spokane home and went
into hiding.

Yates takes his place among the nation’s most prolific killers,
a list that includes the uncaught Green River Killer, blamed for
the deaths of at least 49 women in Washington and Oregon starting
in 1982, and Ted Bundy, a Tacoma native who confessed to killing 30
women, including eight in Washington state, before his execution in
Florida in 1988.

John Wayne Gacy Jr. was convicted in 1980 of 33 Chicago-area
murders, the most convictions by anyone in U.S. history.